5 Dropbox Alternatives for Linux

These days there are dozens of personal “cloud storage” services. The most popular is Dropbox. A lot of people are happy with Dropbox; some are not. It’s not a terrible service, but it’s not for everyone. For whatever reason, finding an equivalent to the service is challenging. The reason? Not a lot of mainstream services offer a Linux client, so you’ll have to do a bit of digging. Luckily, we’ve compiled a list of the best Linux friendly alternatives to Dropbox to make your life easier! Check it out!

1. Mega

Mega, the self-proclaimed “privacy company,” has it right when it comes to cloud storage. For starters, just for signing up, you get 50GB of storage free of charge. Along with that, you get 10GB of free bandwidth. On top of all of that, everything is encrypted while being transferred so your data is secure.

Overall, Mega is a decent service. The Mega desktop client is great, though it sometimes uses a lot of system resources. Linux support is very new and only supports a handful of distributions (Debian, Ubuntu, OpenSUSE and Fedora). Its the perfect choice if you’re concerned about your privacy but love the idea of cloud storage.

2. SpiderOak

SpiderOak touts great Linux support (specifically for Fedora, Debian/Ubuntu and Slackware). It only offers 2GB of free storage but makes up for it with a wonderful Linux client. SpiderOak also has Hive, a feature very similar to the Dropbox folder feature. Like Mega, SpiderOak values your privacy. It’s a serious option to consider for those who prefer confidentiality.

3. pCloud

pCloud is a decent cloud storage service, but the Linux support is mediocre. Currently listed on their website are links to Ubuntu binaries. No other distributions seem to be officially supported.

On the plus side, the Ubuntu client is very nice. It’s well-designed and works well with the system overall. When you sign up you get 20GB of storage for free. If you’re a Ubuntu user, pCloud is a serious contender.

4. Copy

Copy is arguably the most similar to Dropbox on this list. Just like the Dropbox folder, you’ll have a Copy folder. The Linux support is wonderful! Copy’s client supports every Linux distribution. How? They don’t distribute binaries, just a .tar.gz file. All the user really needs to do is extract it and run the executable. You can’t really beat that. Copy comes with 15GB of storage space which is very competitive. It’s a great choice if you want everything to just work.

5. Bitcasa

A decent alternative, Bitcasa comes with limited Linux support. The client only officially supports Debian, Ubuntu/Mint and Fedora distributions. With a free account, you’ll get 20GB of storage. That’s more than enough for most people.

Interestingly, the service offers a different take on cloud storage. For example: Instead of merely “syncing” your files, it acts as an external hard drive. Much like Mega, Bitcasa encrypts your files before they’re uploaded for maximum privacy. The service is a competitive choice for privacy conscious individuals.

Conclusion

If you look around, most people are using either Dropbox, Apple iCloud, Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive. The great thing about these services is that they’re convenient and easy to use. It’s nice to be able to back up all of your data from a smartphone, tablet, laptop or desktop computer. Unfortunately, all of these mainstream services have terrible Linux support. Linux users are important too! That’s why this list of great alternatives exists. If you need to use a cloud storage service, trust your data with companies that care enough about you to support your operating system of choice.

I find you statement that “[Copy] don’t distribute binaries, just a .tar.gz file” a bit strange. Yes, they distribute a tar.gz file, but what it contains is binaries. So binaries is what they distribute..